Tuesday's Daily Mail

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'SNP king-makers'

BBC Newsnight

BBC Two, 22:30

It will be Nicola Sturgeon who decides who to lend her [SNP] votes to, Fraser Nelson tells Newsnight. The editor of the Spectator says: "The SNP will be oddly, the king-makers. I don't know why we are voting in the election because it will be decided in SNP headquarters in Edinburgh."

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Vince dance

Buzzfeed

Business Secretary and Lib Dem Vince Cable is pictured dancing - a hobby of his - alongside an interview he has given to

Buzzfeed. He says: "It's very good for fitness, it may not look tiring but it is extremely tiring. And it keeps you mentally fit because you have to concentrate on that and nothing else and not some political worries - you can totally switch off, which is a good thing."

Tomorrow's Times

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Budget debate: votes

House of Commons

Parliament

Labour lost a series of votes, including efforts to oppose income and corporation tax rates, by straightforward Government majorities. The rest of the budget proposals were then agreed en bloc. Tomorrow, the Chancellor faces questions on the budget from the Treasury Committee.

Tuesday's Independent

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Budget debate: Government

House of Commons

Parliament

Concluding the debate, Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Danny Alexander again says that the Liberal Democrats would like to see a different approach to fiscal policy but tells MPs that this budget has the blessing of both coalition parties. The budget, he says, "reflects the hard work the coalition has carried out over the last five year to turn around the mess we inherited from the previous Labour administration."

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VAT: Conservative response

Responding to Labour's pledge not to raise VAT if elected on 7 May, a Conservative Party spokesman said: "Ed Miliband and Ed Balls have repeatedly said they will raise taxes. It is time that they came clean with the British public about which taxes they will raise - income tax or national insurance?"

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Budget debate: Labour

House of Commons

Parliament

Referring to Danny Alexander's alternative Liberal Democrat budget, Shadow Chief Secretary to the Treasury, Chris Leslie, said: "We've had one and half budgets in two days from two parties that have nothing to offer the majority of people in this country."

Both budgets, he said, were based on "party political interests and their perceived electoral advantage."

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UKIP expulsions

PA

A UKIP spokesman says the decision to expel MEP Janice Atkinson from the party means she no longer represents UKIP in the European Parliament.

Ms Atkinson and her chief of staff, Christine Hewitt, were thrown out of the party for bringing it in to disrepute after Ms Hewitt was secretly filmed allegedly getting an inflated receipt in a restaurant.

The women have 14 days to appeal. The spokesman declined to say how or when a new candidate would be chosen.

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No VAT rise from us - Labour

Labour has promised not to raise VAT if elected on 7 May.

In a speech in Birmingham tomorrow, Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls will say: "VAT is the tax that hits everyone - with the same rate paid by the pensioner as the millionaire...The Tories and Lib Dems raised it within weeks of the last general election - despite David Cameron telling the British people a few days before the election that he had 'no plans' to do so and despite the promises of Nick Clegg...We will not put up VAT. And we will not extend it to food, children's clothes, books, newspapers and public transport fares. We will not raise VAT because it's the tax that hits everyone."

PM calls Netanyahu

A spokesman said: "He congratulated him on winning the recent Israeli elections, and looked forward to working with the new government when it was formed.

"The PM reiterated that as a firm friend of Israel, the UK continued to believe that a two-state solution was the best way to achieve a lasting peace and to secure Israel's long-term security and prosperity.

"The two Prime Ministers also discussed the negotiations on Iran's nuclear programme, agreeing that it was essential to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons."

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Text 61124

Gill C: Cameron our part time Prime Minister and universal family man! Why is he so unwilling to face the country and defend his Government's record. A clever ploy to divert attention from the true effect of Tory policies. We lost Superdrug from our High St on Saturday, it was M & S last September. I've never seen the town centre look so sad. Step down now Cameron, stop wasting our time.

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Budget debate: SNP view

House of Commons

Parliament

SNP MP Eilidh Whiteford welcomes "the fact that the economy is recovering" but argues that the government's economic decisions led to the "slowest recovery in history".

The "austerity programme simply hasn't worked the way he led us to expect" she tells MPs, adding "if it's failed in economic terms its been a disaster for people. Specifically people at the bottom half of the income spectrum."

Tomorrow's Daily Express

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haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk

Nathan Williams, Newport: Glad to hear his comments on a third term. America doesn't allow it and one only has to look at Thatcher and Blair to see how it can go wrong and not serve the country. Absolute power corrupts as can be seen with Putin, not that I think we would ever get that far!

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Alex Salmond

The SNP's Alex Salmond has said he doesn't think David Cameron will win a majority at the election in May. Speaking at an event in London, Mr Salmond argued a balanced Parliament was "likely" and that he was "hopeful" his party would play a "very substantial part" in it.

He also criticised Conservative posters showing him playing an instrument while Ed Miliband dances a jig, describing them as "pretty ridiculous". He said they wouldn't be effective.

Echoing his successor as Scottish first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, he urged people in England and Wales to vote for the Greens and Plaid Cymru respectively.

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Anne McElvoy, The Economist and Evening Standard

BBC News Channel

Journalist Anne McElvoy told the BBC she thought David Cameron had probably "said a bit more than he intended to say" by ruling out a third term as prime minister if the Conservatives retain power. She said the Conservative media team would probably have preferred it if people were talking about Chancellor George Osborne's budget. He and the Shadow Chancellor Ed Balls appeared in separate question and answer sessions arranged by Sky News this afternoon.

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haveyoursay@bbc.co.uk

Matt Marsh, Dudley: If Theresa May becomes the leader of the Conservatives with the potential of being the PM, I will definitely switch from voting Labour to Tory. The male leaders of this nation have had long enough. Time for another lady PM.

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Boris Johnson on Cameron

Boris Johnson says the Prime Minister's remarks on the future of his leadership have prompted people to "make a fuss about nothing". David Cameron has told the BBC he will serve a full term if re-elected as Prime Minister but would not seek a third. He suggested Theresa May, George Osborne and Mr Johnson as possible successors.

Asked about the comments, Mr Johnson said: "Frankly it really is people making a fuss about nothing.

"What the Prime Minister is saying is that he is going to serve on as prime minister and leader of this country until 2020, which is by the way exactly what we need to entrench the great economic recovery that we're seeing and ensure the future of this city of which I'm Mayor of and of the whole of the UK.

"Five years is a very long time and I'm sure he'll do a fantastic job in that period."

Mr Johnson added: "The next leader of the Tory party is probably a babe unborn."